WEC Energy Group, Inc. $WEC Shares Sold by Confluence Investment Management LLC

Confluence Investment Management LLC cut its holdings in shares of WEC Energy Group, Inc. (NYSE:WEC) by 2.0% during the third quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 1,390,656 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 28,419 shares during the quarter. WEC Energy Group comprises about 2.3% of Confluence Investment Management LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 3rd biggest holding. Confluence Investment Management LLC’s holdings in WEC Energy Group were worth $159,355,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its holdings in shares of WEC Energy Group by 1.2% in the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 504,184 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $54,947,000 after purchasing an additional 6,104 shares during the last quarter. Compound Planning Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of WEC Energy Group by 6.1% during the 1st quarter. Compound Planning Inc. now owns 5,281 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $575,000 after buying an additional 304 shares during the period. AlphaQuest LLC grew its stake in WEC Energy Group by 27.6% in the 1st quarter. AlphaQuest LLC now owns 6,295 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $686,000 after buying an additional 1,363 shares during the last quarter. APG Asset Management N.V. raised its holdings in WEC Energy Group by 0.3% in the 1st quarter. APG Asset Management N.V. now owns 171,400 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $17,292,000 after acquiring an additional 500 shares during the period. Finally, SVB Wealth LLC lifted its position in WEC Energy Group by 20.4% during the first quarter. SVB Wealth LLC now owns 2,692 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $293,000 after acquiring an additional 457 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 77.20% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have recently commented on WEC. Citigroup started coverage on WEC Energy Group in a research report on Friday, October 3rd. They issued a “buy” rating and a $131.00 target price on the stock. Barclays reduced their price target on WEC Energy Group from $110.00 to $105.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, December 16th. BTIG Research raised WEC Energy Group to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 22nd. KeyCorp reduced their target price on shares of WEC Energy Group from $123.00 to $117.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, December 12th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company initiated coverage on shares of WEC Energy Group in a research report on Monday, October 27th. They set an “overweight” rating and a $124.00 price target on the stock. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have issued a Buy rating, six have given a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $120.92.

WEC Energy Group Stock Performance

WEC opened at $104.83 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.29, a quick ratio of 0.33 and a current ratio of 0.50. WEC Energy Group, Inc. has a 52-week low of $91.94 and a 52-week high of $118.18. The firm has a market cap of $34.10 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.82, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.63 and a beta of 0.56. The business’s fifty day moving average is $110.77 and its 200-day moving average is $109.09.

WEC Energy Group (NYSE:WEC) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, September 2nd. The utilities provider reported $1.43 EPS for the quarter. The business had revenue of $2.28 billion during the quarter. WEC Energy Group had a return on equity of 12.60% and a net margin of 17.75%. Sell-side analysts expect that WEC Energy Group, Inc. will post 5.23 EPS for the current fiscal year.

WEC Energy Group Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Sunday, March 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 13th will be issued a dividend of $0.9525 per share. This is a boost from WEC Energy Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.89. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 13th. This represents a $3.81 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.6%. WEC Energy Group’s payout ratio is currently 67.49%.

WEC Energy Group Profile

WEC Energy Group is a Milwaukee, Wisconsin–based regulated energy holding company whose primary businesses are the generation, transmission and distribution of electricity and the distribution of natural gas. The company operates through a set of utility subsidiaries that provide bundled energy service, customer billing and energy-related programs to residential, commercial and industrial customers. As a regulated utility group, WEC’s operations focus on delivering reliable service while managing infrastructure investment and compliance with state and federal utility regulation.

Its utility subsidiaries include well-known regional operators such as We Energies and Wisconsin Public Service, along with Chicago-area natural gas utilities that were part of the Integrys Energy Group acquisition.